1) Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a card holder for holding therein a card such as a fuel credit card issued by a gas filling station, or the like.
2) Description of the Related Art:
FIGS. 17 and 18 show the structure of a conventional card case mounted on an interior wall or partition such as an installment panel of an automobile and used to accommodate a fuel card therein.
According to this structure, an opening/closing type cover 14 is supported on a case body 10 via a shaft 12 in such a manner that it can be opened and/or closed in the direction indicated by the arrow A. A fuel card 16 can be inserted into and pulled out of the case body 10 when the cover 14 is open. The case body 10 has a release button 18 mounted thereon so as to be operable under pressure and a locking hook 20 (shown in FIG. 17) formed integrally with the release button 18. When the cover 14 is closed from the open state of the cover 14, a hook 22 formed in the cover 14 is held in engagement with the locking hook 20 so as to prevent the cover 14 from opening inadvertently when it is in its closed state. The hook 22 is released from engagement with the locking hook 20 by the operation-under-pressure of the release button 18. When the release button 18 is pressed while the cover 14 is in the closed state, the hook 22 is released from engagement with the locking hook 20 so as to allow the cover 14 to open. A torsion coil spring 24 wound on the shaft 12 to urge the cover 14 in its opening direction is provided between the case body 10 and the cover 14. Upon opening of the cover 14, the hook 22 is released from being held in engagement with the locking hook 20. At the same time, the cover 14 is automatically opened by the urging force of the torsion coil spring 24.
However, the conventional card case has the problem that the opening and closing operations of the cover 14 are performed separately from the insertion and pulling-out operations of the fuel card 16, thus causing cumbersomeness of the operation at the time the fuel card 16 is inserted into the card case and/or pulled out therefrom. More specifically, even when the release button 18 is operated by pressing, before the fuel card 16 is pulled out of the card case, the fuel card 16 cannot be taken out of the card case later on unless one awaits the opening of the cover 14. In addition, when it is desired to accommodate the fuel card 16 in the card case, the fuel card 16 cannot be accommodated therein by merely inserting it into the card case, rather it is necessary to close the cover 14 after having inserted the card into the card holder.